Once more, Mr. Dominique Persoone and Prof. Charles Spence, agreed to joined me for some madness. We decided to evaluate wether clients of one of Dominique's shops (The Chocolate Line, Antwerp), would report having a better tasting experience when listening to sounds presented as part of the chocolate's context.

The overall idea was to pair sound and taste and evaluate if the participants were able to assimilate the proposed match. Basically we subdivided the participants in 4 different groups, where each group had access to a different story about the creative process of the chocolate, and its relationship with the sound they were listening while tasting. The results revealed that not only did the customers report having a significantly better tasting experience when the sounds were presented as part of the food’s identity, but they were also willing to pay significantly more for this type of experiences.

For some participants, we paired one Dominique's pralines (top right) with this song (top left). For others, we paired the same chocolate with the soundscape of the working kitchen that is present at the shop.

Summarising, these results demonstrate that the customers respond positively when sound is presented as part of the identity of the chocolate, and they are willing to pay more for this added value.